1. Using a trigger that gets you into the trade too far away from the
support or resistance zone. (This is where you are giving away
the edge.)
2. Having stops too tight, so that there is no room for the trade to play
out, or having stops too far away, so that you are risking quite a bit
more than what you can potentially make on the trade.
3. Taking profits too soon, rather than letting a trade run. Many of these
setups can really run for you, with the initial risk being minimal. For
example, you can risk 11 to 20 ticks on a trade on the mini-sized Dow
and then see a 70-tick rally on a trend day. It would certainly be a
shame if you took only 20 ticks profit on the trade when you had the
potential to take so much more out of the market. (The extra cash that
you can collect from letting a winning trade run can cushion your
account against the smaller losses that you will have to take when
one of your setups does not work.)